Ivanka Trump is an author on her own merit

All of 27 years old, Ivanka Trump is already writing her first "motivational" book. It will be published next autumn for the Touchstone imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Tim Walker

4:37PM GMT 21 Nov 2008

Mandrake hears that the former model, who has risen to the position of vice-president of real estate development and acquisitions in her father Donald's organisation, says her work will have important things to say.

"My father always impressed upon me the idea that America is a meritocracy and that you must work for everything you get," she said. She added that she hoped to share a "positive perspective with the women of my generation".

Sound of Music mishap

While Jo Miles, the stage manager of The Sound of Music, feels that she has generally been blessed with the smooth-running of the hit West End show, it appears that there have been the occasional mishaps.

"One of the little girls wet herself on stage, and another nipped off to the lavatory in the opening scene," she admits. "It was the youngest child and she obviously didn't realise that it wasn't the done thing." Miss Miles takes it in her stride: she recalls how, when she was working on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Prince of Wales was in the audience, the wretched car reversed when it should have moved forward and demolished some of the set.

Frank Field's confession

Only the whole truth and nothing but the truth will do when people talk to Church Times. Thus, when the newspaper asked Frank Field, the backbench Labour MP, if he liked Gordon Brown, he could only reply enigmatically: "You have to ask whether you'd want to spend social time with him."

The leader of the 10p tax rebels also suggested for good measure that he regarded the Prime Minister as "an old fool". Or, as he put it: "The big difference between Gordon and me is that he is a means-test addict… Any old fool can make money available to the poor, but means-testing makes it difficult for the poor to improve their circumstances by their own efforts, or live honestly."